Tribunal: Atiku, PDP close case after calling just 27 witnesses

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday closed his case at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) after his star witness told the court that he got the information on the alleged Guinean citizenship of President Bola Tinubu from the website of an online publication.

Mike Enahoro-Ebah, who was Atiku’s 27th and final witness in the case, admitted that he did not crosscheck the authenticity of the document and its current status with Guinea’s embassy in Nigeria.

The petitioners had planned to call 100 witnesses.

The Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate, Mr.Peter Obi, also closed his case at the PEPC yesterday.

Only 13 of the 50 witnesses he had lined up could testify for him.

Enahoro-Ebah, through whom the petitioners tendered a number of documents, including the bio-data page of the alleged Guinean passport, claimed this was evidence that Tinubu was a citizen of that country.

The witness, who said he is a member of the Obidient movement and was not happy that Obi lost the last presidential election, said he needed not to clarify from the Guinean embassy, having read about the issue of passport and the alleged dual citizenship from the online publication.

He was a petitioners’ subpoenaed witness.

Counsel to Atiku and the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), tendered through him some documents, including what he called academic records and personal particulars of Tinubu.

The activist/lawyer, while being led in evidence by Uche, said he got the documents relating to Tinubu’s academic records with the assistance of his lawyer in the United States.

The documents included Tinubu’s Form EC9 (affidavit in support of personal particulars); what they described as a certificate from the Chicago State University; NYSC discharge certificate (which the witness said contained the name Adekunle); a party membership card and a certificate of service from Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc.

There were also what the witness described as the academic records of Tinubu from the Chicago State University; what he referred to as the actual certificate issued by the university; application for admission allegedly made by Tinubu in 1977; a transcript for admission from the South West College, in which the witness claimed Tinubu was referred to as female.

The petitioners also tendered, through Enahoro-Ebah, a document they referred to as a notarized judgment of a United States District Court (in which he claimed Tinubu was convicted) and the print out of a Guinean passport, which the witness claimed belonged to Tinubu.

Under cross examination by President Bola Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the witness admitted that he was not the official custodian of the documents purportedly from the Chicago State University.

On whether he registered the judgment of the United States District Court in Nigeria, the witness said, having been notarized, he needed not to have the judgment registered in the country.

He denied knowledge of a February 4, 2003 letter by the US Embassy in Nigeria written to the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) clearing Tinubu of any criminal liability in the US.

The witness also denied being aware of a June 27, 2022 letter by the Registrar of the Chicago State University confirming that Tinubu did not only attend the school but he graduated with honours.

The two documents were admitted in evidence after they were tendered by Olanipekun.

The witness admitted that the document he brought from the US court did not show that any plea was taken from Tinubu nor was he arraigned or convicted.

Enahoro-Ebah admitted that he had earlier in 2022 filed a criminal complaint marked CR/121/2022 at an Abuja Magistrate’s Court against Tinubu on the same issue. He said the case was not decided and that he did not withdraw it.

Following an application by Olanipekun, the court processes relating to the case by Enahoro-Ebah was admitted in evidence.

On how he got a copy of the data page of the Guinean passport he brought to court, the witness said he downloaded it from the internet.

When asked whether as a lawyer and rights activist he took time to visit the Guinean embassy to ascertain the status of the said passport, he said he needed not contact the embassy because he read about it on the internet and a former President of the country confirmed it.

On whether he knew the passport expired in 2022, the witness said the passport could expire but citizenship does not.

Under cross examination by lawyer to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the witness said he knew that the Chicago State University is a public institution, but that the documents he brought from the school needed not to be certified.

While being cross-examined by INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), Enahoro-Ebah said he was unhappy that his candidate lost the presidential election.

“Yes, my candidate lost the election as announced by INEC. It is not a pleasing outcome,” Enahoro-Ebah said.

He claimed that his investigation of Tinubu’s background was not influenced from any quarter and that his lawyer in the US helped him to obtain the documents from the Chicago State University free of charge.

Asked if he knew when INEC published the final list of candidates for the last presidential election, the witness said it was around June 2022.

On whether he laid a complaint to INEC when the final list was published, Enahoro-Ebah said he had no reason to do so.

The witness said he got the first set of the documents on November 1, 2022 and received the notarized judgment in April 2023.

Enahoro-Ebah said he voted at a polling unit in Gwarinpa in Abuja during the election and was duly accredited and allowed to cast his ballot without any trouble.

Earlier, another lawyer from the petitioners’ legal team, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), tendered more documents from the bar. They were mainly certified true copies (CTCs) of Forms EC8A (polling unit results) from 25 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Delta State; 13 LGAs in Ebonyi State; 18 LGAs in Edo; 17 LGAs in Enugu; 27 LGAs in Imo and 21 LGAs in Kogi State.

At the conclusion of Enahoro-Ebah’s testimony, Uche announced the closure of their case after calling 27 witnesses out of the 100 they told the court they planned to call.

Peter Obi and his party, the Labour Party (LP), also closed their case yesterday after calling 13 of the 50 witnesses they had told the court they wanted to call.

Their 12th witness, Yunusa Tanko, who commenced testimony on Thursday, concluded yesterday, telling the court that beyond the polling unit in Dawaki, Abuja where he voted, he was not physically present at any other polling unit.

Tanko said he served as the spokesman of the LP Presidential Campaign Council and the National Director of Media. He said he was at the party’s Situation Room during the election.

Under cross examination by lawyer to INEC, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), Tanko said the petitioners’ case included the failure of the electoral body to transmit results electronically.

He however admitted knowing about a judgment given by the Abuja division of the Federal High Court on January 23, 2023 in a suit filed against INEC by the LP, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1454/2022, where the court held among others that it was only INEC that could determine the mode of transmitting election results.

The judgment was admitted in evidence by the court despite the objection raised by petitioners’ lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN).

He said he was not aware that that the LP appealed the judgment of the Federal High Court.

On whether his party had agents during the election, the witness said the LP had 133,000 agents nationwide, but that there were a total of 176,974 polling units throughout the country.

Under cross examination by Olanipekun, the witness, who was once the National Chairman of the now defunct National Conscience Party (NCP), said the LP held its presidential primary election on May 30, 2022 and that he became its member before Peter Obi.

Under cross examination by Fagbemi, Tanko said he was aware of the May 26, 2023 judgment by the Supreme Court in which it held among others, that the Vice President, who is listed as the 3rd respondent in the petition, was not involved in double nomination.

The court also admitted the judgment in evidence upon an oral application by Fagbemi.

Peter Emmanuel Yari, who testified as the petitioners’ 13th witness, said he served during the election in Kaduna State as a Presiding Officer, adding that the election process went well except for the inability of INEC to do electronic transmission of the result.

At the conclusion of Yari’s testimony at about 7:20pm, Uzoukwu, who had earlier told the court that the petitioners had about two to three more witnesses to call, announced that they were closing their case.

Uzoukwu had at the conclusion of Tanko’s testimony at about 6:30pm insisted on calling more witnesses and suggested an adjournment till today. The suggestion was however rejected by lawyers to the other parties on the grounds that the petitioners had exhausted the time allocated to them to present their case.

Following Uzoukwu’s insistence on calling more witnesses, the court and other lawyers conceded to him and asked him to proceed.

The court then suspended proceedings for 10 minutes to enable the petitioners assemble their new set of witnesses.

However, everyone in court was however taken aback when, after calling Yari, Uzoukwu announced the closure of the petitioners’ case.

As it earlier ruled in the Atiku/PDP case, the court adjourned till July 3 for INEC, the first respondent in both cases, to open its case.